February 17, 2014

On February 15, 2014, the 30th Shiozawa Seppu Matsuri was held in the Shiozawa area of Minami Uonuma city. I went to the festival twice, first around 2:00 p.m. and second around 8:00 p.m. I managed to get seven mochi at the mochi maki (rice cake scattering) event at 8:35 p.m.

February 9, 2014

Yesterday, we received a box of raw oysters, negi toro, and cod roe from a relative. We had the negi toro as negi toro don for last night's supper, and today, I decided to make some dishes using the raw oysters.

February 6, 2014

The reception ended at around 15:00. I took a free shuttle bus to Shin Osaka Station with my father and brother and saw them off, who took the 16:17 Shinkansen for Tokyo. I had to kill time in Osaka until the expressway bus arrived at Osaka Station at 22:00. I walked from Shin Osaka Station toward Osaka Station. I spent time in Loft (store that sells household commodities), MARUZEN & JUNKUDO (bookstore), and Hankyu Umeda Main Store (department store), among others.

I decided not to have supper, because I had more than enough at the reception. I went to a Doutor coffee shop and ordered one M size coffee.

披露宴で十分すぎるほど食べたので夕飯は食べないことにしました。ドトールコーヒーに行って、Mサイズのコーヒーを頼みました。

250 yen. When I was in my early 20s, they offered a cup of coffee for 150 yen...
250円でした。20代前半の頃、コーヒー一杯150円だったのですが...。

Doutor Coffee is probably the only major coffee shop chain that roasts their coffee with a direct-flame roasting method. They have developed direct-flame roasters with capacities of 120 kg and 200 kg by themselves.
多分、ドトールコーヒーはコーヒーを直火式で焙煎している唯一の大手コーヒーショップチェーンです。容量120 kg、200 kgの直火式焙煎機を自ら開発しています。

Edited to add a link to the webpage describing the history of Doutor Coffee:
ドトールコーヒーの歴史を説明するページへのリンクを追加：Link/リンク

The expressway bus arrived at Nagaoka at around 6:30 the next day, that is, February 2. I was pretty exhausted because I couldn't sleep well.
高速バスは長岡に翌日、つまり２月２日の6:30頃着きました。よく眠れなかったので、疲れ切っていました。

I had this obento and canned coffee in the waiting room of Nagaoka Station.
長岡駅の待合室で、このお弁当を食べ、缶コーヒーを飲みました。

The obento was good enough,
お弁当は美味しかったですが、

I wasn't particularly fascinated by this canned coffee.
この缶コーヒーには特に感動しませんでした。

I like the cold version of this brand.
このブランドの冷たいバージョンは好きなのですが。

I took a 7:43 train and returned home before 9:00.

7:43発の電車に乗り、9:00前に帰宅しました。

The "hikidemono" (present from the bride and groom to each guest) was:
引き出物は：

cheesecake and a catalog from which you can select one item.
チーズケーキと、一品選べるカタログでした。

I discussed with my family, and selected the barbecue grill set.

家族と相談して、バーベキューグリルのセットを選びました。

Here is the present I bought for my family at the Hankyu department store:

Note: I have no affiliation with Doutor Coffee or Rich Field.
注： 私はドトールコーヒーやRich Fieldと関係はありません。
***
I truly enjoyed my niece's wedding ceremony and reception. I wish the new couple well!
姪の結婚式、披露宴は本当に楽しかったです。お二人の幸福をお祈りします！

Hirame (olive flounder) vapeur, made into a campus, with ginger-flavored butter sauce

キャンパス仕立ての平目のヴァプール しょうが風味のバターソースで

Parfait amour (infusion)
パルフェ タムール（アンフュージョン）

The server said it was "flavor tea".

接客係の人は「フレーバーティー」と言ってました。

Fillet and Japanese-style vegetables takiawase (cooked separately but served together), made into pot-au-feu
O-sekihan (glutinous rice cooked with azuki beans) with chestnut in it
フィレ肉と和風野菜の多喜合わせ ポトフ仕立て

栗入りお赤飯

Takiawase is usually spelled 炊き合わせ (cooked first and then served together), but here, the kanji meaning "many joys joining" (多+喜+合) are used.
Takiawaseは普通は炊き合わせと書きますが、ここでは「多くの喜びを合わせる」という意味の漢字を使っています。

Cross section
断面

O-sekihan

O-sekihan is what the Japanese like to have on an auspicious occasion.

お赤飯は、めでたい時に日本人が食べたがるものです。

A piece of cake that I got from the bride.
新婦からもらったケーキ。

More sweets!
お菓子はもっとあります！

Macaroon
マカロン

Correction: The correct spelling of this confection is macaron, with a single o, not macaroon. To be more precise, macaron is a French word, and macaroon is an English word for macaron! To make things more complicated, there is a confection called macaroon in the United States and elsewhere.

Near the end of the reception, I drank a cup of coffee.
披露宴の終わり近く、コーヒーを一杯飲みました。

After the reception ended, the bride and groom and their parents lined up to express their thanks to the guests one by one. The bride gave everyone this present:
披露宴が終わってから、新郎新婦と両親が参加者一人一人に感謝を述べるため並びました。新婦はみんなにこのプレゼントをくれました。

February 4, 2014

Last Friday night, I left home past 18:10 to take an 18:59 train to Nagaoka, where I waited for two hours to take a 22:05 expressway bus for Osaka Station to attend my niece's wedding. The bus arrived at Osaka Station at around 6:30 the next day. I'm not sure how long I could sleep in the bus. Maybe one or two hours. The station was surprisingly deserted. I wandered around, and quite luckily, I found one bakery that opens at 7:00. I later knew it was a dominique saibron shop.

I was the first customer of the day. When I left the shop at around 8:10, the shop was about 70-80% full.
私がその日の最初の客でしたが、8:10頃店を出る頃には、席が７～８割うまっていました。

I took a free shuttle bus at 9:00, and reached the wedding hall before 9:20. I immediately put on my formal attire (reifuku in Japanese) in the dressing room for the bride's relatives, went to the waiting room for the bride's relatives, and talked with my father, who was already there, and other relatives. The "introduction to relatives" started at 11:00, and the wedding ceremony was held in the chapel located in the premises of the wedding hall at 11:30. After the end of the wedding ceremony, everyone was given a handful of petals, and waited for the bride and groom to appear. After receiving a flower shower, the bride and groom tolled the bell together.
9:00に無料シャトルバスに乗り、9:20前には結婚式場に着きました。すぐに新婦側の着替え室で礼服に着替え、新婦側の待合室に行き、すでに来ていた父や他の親族と話をしました。「親族紹介」が11:00に始まり、結婚式は結婚式場の敷地内にある教会で11:30に行われました。結婚式の後、皆、花びらを一握りもらって、新郎新婦が現れるのを待ちました。フラワーシャワーの後、新郎新婦は一緒に鐘を鳴らしました。

The guests then headed for the reception hall, and on our way there, we were offered these and others.
それから出席者たちは披露宴会場に向かいましたが、その途中、こんなおもてなしがありました。